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Gone are the days when gaming consisted of a couple friends all sitting in front of the same TV with game controllers all hooked up to the same gaming console. Thanks to the integration of online capabilities into more recent state-of-the-art gaming consoles, online gaming has opened a whole new gaming universe taking game play and collaboration to places once never even dreamed of.
What makes online gaming so popular is that it can be done from anywhere that has reliable internet access including a person’s own home. In fact, studies have shown that over 155 million Americans are regularly playing online games and that U.S consumers have spent over 22 billion dollars on gaming since 2014. And, it is safe to say that the incorporation of online abilities has caused this number to jump significantly.
Like all technology, it does not take long before bigger and better versions start flooding the market. This holds true for online gaming as well. And with this growth and development of online gaming comes the need for better and faster internet connections. Where once the type of router placed in a home was of no concern, people are now starting to look for more powerful, specialty routers and even opting for routers that are best for gaming.
Any serious online gamer will say that there is nothing more frustrating than having an insufficient internet connection while immersed within an online game. Slow play, lag time, and download delays will always put a damper on the online gaming experience. Router manufacturers have taken notice of the online gaming phenomenon and have started building and marketing their routers accordingly.
Routers specifically designed for gaming now boast (once so not important) features including Gigabit Ethernet ports with 1,000Mbps speed and traffic shaping or QoS (Quality-of-Service). Dual-band routers have also become a must for gamers that have networks supplying multiple devices. Dual-band routers are able to reserve the 5GHz band for devices used for online gaming while devices and computers that do nothing more than surf the Internet or check email can still simply connect at 2.4 GHz.
With online gaming on the rise and finding itself present in more and more American households, it is only natural that online router manufacturers step up to the plate and start offering the average consumer a high-quality gaming router option.
A glimpse into the future of routers and how they will complement online gaming shows both physical and proficiency design improvements. In the coming years routers are expected to have design updates around high speed route lookups, advances in switching fabrics, and increased speed of output queues.
Release ID: 181129